Disclaimer

Mad Hatter's Bookshelf & Book Review routinely receives books from Publishers and Authors for review consideration. When in doubt assume the book comes from a Publisher or if you follow my New Procurement posts I usually describe the source of said book. I still buy a lot of books as well.

One of the most searched terms that lands people here are Dresden Files queries and the Cold Days search is getting ever more popular. My Dresden Files Has Jumped the Shark post has gotten so crazy I shut down the comments as I was just tired of being the place where people went to argue about it. I stand by that post and still feel very much the same way. I've discussed the story with a lot of other people in person and I'm not the only one who feels the same. Don't get me wrong some of my friends loved it too. But I digress...

Anyway, this was supposed to be an update on Cold Days. Well, there is no firm update. Butcher started writing the book in earnest around the beginning of the year after finishing a trio of Bigfoot/Dresden short stories. So it is coming, but being a 2012 release is pretty out the door. I tweeted back and forth with Jim's US editor briefly and she said it has not been decided/announced yet. There is a 2013 listing for Cold Days on Amazon UK with a January 2013 release, but I wouldn't set that in stone until Jim says so. January is probably the hope, but we'll see.

Jim has said that he is also working on a pitch for a Steampunk novel, which seems likely to be his next project after Cold Days. Those hoping he would do a run of a couple Dresden books in a row will have to be disappointed. Butcher mentioned many times he needs to take a breather from that world every other book. Before the Alera books did this. I was mostly hoping for his Sci-Fi cop series United System Marshalls to be the next, but I certainly wouldn't turn a Steampunk read down.

And for all those fans that can't wait for the next Dresden files I point you towards Kevin Hearne's Hounded, Benedict Jacka's Fated, and Seanan McGuire's Rosemary and Rue. Those series should definitely tide you over.

No I really was just tired of everyone belly aching that I didn't fall over the book. I've never been a strong or particularly good writer and nor have I claimed to be. And anonymous comments like that are just baiting BS, which I find I have little time to care about these day.

Actually, while it's not set in stone, Jim and Penguin are still shooting for Fall 2012. Amazon has been known to fabricate release dates. I have no idea where they pulled January from, but they clearly didn't get it from the publisher.

Also, "Those hoping he would do a run of a couple Dresden books in a row will have to be disappointed." -- What do you call the Dresden-only run of "Changes," "Side Jobs," "Ghost Story," and "Cold Days"? Plus the short stories beyond Side Jobs: "Even Hand," "AAAA Wizardry," "Curses," the Bigfoot trio, and the Molly-POV novella, all of which were published or will be published without any non-Dresden work published in between? Any fans disappointed by the lack of "a run of a couple Dresden books in a row" have very short memories.

My comment about a long run is more about the future. Recent interviews have Jim mentioning he needs a break from Dresden.

For quite a while he was publishing two novels a year, which is a pace I still find amazing. As much as I like the shorts they are still a tease. I'll still be there for the bigfoot run. Those have awesome fun written all of them.

That would be nice, but most of the Dresden shorts from the last few years were written due to requests from specific anthology editors. And when you write for an anthology a contract is involved which often prohibits the materials from being published elsewhere with caveats for Year's Best Anthologies and single author collections.